The Hungarian State Opera and the Erkel Theatre are to gain new a art studios and rehearsal centre. Establishing and equipping the new centre as well as preparing the refurbishment of the Opera House in Andrássy Avenue is to be financed by the government up to 14.425 billion HUF, announced Péter Hoppál, State Secretary for Culture and Szilveszter Ókovács, General Director of the Hungarian State Opera.

On 6 February, 2016 the special guest star of the Shakespeare Ball organized by the Hungarian State Opera is Plácido Domingo. One important feature of the ball revived in 2014 is that the greatest figures of the world of opera and ballet are invited to this exclusive event. The appearance of Domingo is extraordinary as it is the first time this significant personality of the classical music scene of the 20th and 21st centuries sings on the stage of the Opera House.

The most prestigious awards were presented to three opera singers, a ballet dancer and a member of the orchestra on 29 June, 2016 on the stage of the Erkel Theatre. The Chamber Singer for the 2015/16 season are Eszter Sümegi, Ildikó Komlósi and István Kovácsházi. Chamber Artist is cellist Endre Balog, the Étoile title was awarded to ballerina Lili Felméry.

The Night of Stars gala is a spectacular show to celebrate the best moments of the past season: the stage is graced by the greatest of the great, as well as the most promising young performers at the Erkel Theatre on 29 June from 7 p.m. The event is screened at St Stephen's Basilica in front of several thousand people in what is one of the summer's top free events. A collection is made by employees of Hungarian Interchurch Aid to assist disaster victims in Hungary. During the gala the recipients of the prestigious Chamber Singer, Etoile and Chamber Artist awards are announced.

The Opera’s ballet company will close both The Month of Dance and the season with The Karamazovs in Boris Eifman’s now-classic choreography. In addition to telling the well-known story in the language of dance, this grand ballet also explores the characters’ swirling minds, their complex relationships with each other and their internal struggles. The production will be staged at the Erkel Theatre from June 20, in a performance by the Hungarian National Ballet.

Similar to 2014 when the Strauss150 Festival crowned our 130th season, the Faust225 Festival aims to present the most concentrated event of this season on the 225th anniversary of the first publication of Goethe’s Faust – A Fragment. Five brilliant pieces built on the topic of Faust can be heard (among them the premiere of Gounod’s opera and the Hungarian premiere of Busoni’s work), with a rarity concert by the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra to conclude the series that spans over two weeks featuring world-wide acclaimed Hungarian singers and international guest stars.

Events

'Music is a sacred art, gathering the wildest follies like cherubim around a gleaming throne!' - such is the Composer's article of faith proclaimed in the Prologue of Ariadne auf Naxos which is the most exciting opera of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannstahl. It playfully combines two very different art forms: tragic opera and romantic farce. The result is a richly textured work that examines the role of art in society, and contrasts true love with cheerful promiscuity.
“We perform merriness and sadness, love and death simultaneously because we must live. And this is life itself. As these emotions are mixed in our everyday lives, now they will be mixed at the theatre too.” – says the director, Ferenc Anger.

Prologue:
A nouveau riche Viennese gentleman wishes to entertain his dinner guests with two theatrical performances. First to be performed is Ariadne auf Naxos, a young composer’s magnificent opera, followed by a divertissement entitled The Faithless Zerbinetta and Her Four Lovers performed by a dancer and some clowns. The musicians, who are offended by this unworthy match, are even more shocked by the landlord’s decision: the two performances must be held simultaneously before the fireworks at nine. Fortunately, the resourceful dancer Zerbinetta has an idea of how to save the situation – the two pieces must be cut down so that they fit one another.
The opera:
On the island of Naxos Ariadne is lamenting her unfaithful lover Theseus. The
nymphs try to console her in vain and the clowns cannot cheer her up either;
she is waiting for the herald of death. When Zerbinetta attempts to persuade her to find, instead of death, consolation in the arms of the first appropriate man she meets, the indignant Ariadne withdraws to her cave. Thus, Zerbinetta may choose from her admirers undisturbed. Eventually, she bestows her favours upon Harlequin, and the other disappointed clowns slink off. The nymphs rush in with the news: a ship is approaching. Bacchus arrives, the handsome god of wine and ecstasy. The mournful Ariadne believes that Hermes, the herald of death, has come to take her to the underworld. She throws herself into his arms happily. Instead of death, however, the wonderful ecstasy of love pervades them both. Zerbinetta is satisfied: her advice did not go unheeded.